Nostalgic facts about Mickey Mouse that all Disney fans should know
Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic and beloved characters in the world of entertainment, but there are still many little-known facts about him that even the biggest Disney fans might not be aware of.
From his original name to all the way he’s made history, here are some fascinating insights into everyone’s favorite mouse.
Academy Award Winner, Mickey Mouse
In 1932, Mickey Mouse won an honorary Oscar for bringing unique and artistic innovation to the film industry. As the first animated character to receive the highest honor, Mickey Mouse inspired an entire generation of animators, filmmakers, and storytellers.
Technically, Walt Disney accepted the Oscar for the creation of Mickey, but it was the mouse who made history!
Mickey Mouse Is One Hard-Working Actor
Due in large part to the tendency of playing animated shorts before feature presentations in the early years of cinema, Mickey Mouse has appeared in 121 theatrical releases between 1928 and 2013.
Interestingly, most of these projects had seen their release by the time The Simple Things hit theaters in 1953. It wouldn’t be until Mickey’s Christmas Carol 30 years later that Mickey would make his return to the big screen.
Mickey’s First Tune Was More Recognizable Back Then
When the world was introduced to Mickey Mouse with the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie, he appeared driving the titular steamboat and whistling a happy tune. That tune would have not only been recognizable at the time but also explain why the cartoon wasn’t called “Steamboat Mickey.”
The song was known as “Steamboat Bill” and was first recorded by ragtime singer Arthur Collins in 1911. Although Billboard wasn’t around to chart how successful the tune was back then, it’s often regarded as one of America’s first hit songs.
Mickey Mouse Was Drafted Before He Could Talk
Although the 1929 cartoon The Karnival Kid marked the first instance in which Mickey spoke, that year also saw another unusual first for the legendary mouse. In The Barnyard Battle, Mickey is conscripted into an armed force and given a machine gun.
It’s all played for comedy, of course, but relations between cats and mice had apparently deteriorated enough for Mickey to be drafted by the mice. It turned out to be the right call, as his antics prove effective enough to put the cats to rout.
Merchandizing Mickey Was More Organic Than It Seemed
While it’s hardly unusual for the makers of a character popular with children to immediately commission a toy line nowadays, this didn’t initially appear to be a thought that occurred to Disney. Instead, it was seamstress Charlotte Clark who independently approached his company for permission to to sell the design the man himself is pictured with here.
Not only did her design meet Disney’s approval, but he quickly saw that the public agreed. When demand started to outpace Clark’s ability to make the dolls, Disney and his brother Roy rented a building where her and six other seamstresses could make up to 400 of them per week.
Mickey’s Dolls Were Popular Enough To Start An Empire
Although observers thought Walt Disney was biting off more than he could chew when he turned Snow White into a feature film, those instincts would be the foundation for an evolutionary process that would eventually turn Disney into one of the world’s biggest media companies. Yet, like Disney’s other creations, it wouldn’t have been possible without Mickey.
Unexpectedly, that was due to the dolls that Clark had first approached him and Roy about. According to the BBC, Mickey Mouse merchandise had proved so lucrative by 1933 that it generated $600,000 a year for Walt Disney’s studio. It was only through that money that it was possible to fund Snow White.
Mickey’s Off The Market
Despite appearances, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are actually already married! In some cartoons, they appear to just be dating, but Walt Disney himself set the record straight in 1933.
“In private life, Mickey is married to Minnie. A lot of people have written to him asking this question, because sometimes he appears to be married to her in his films and other times still courting her.”
Mickey’s Missus (Sometimes)
“What it really amounts to is that Minnie is, for screen purposes, his leading lady. If the story calls for a romantic courtship, then Minnie is the girl; but when the story requires a married couple, then they appear as man and wife.”
“In the studio, we have decided that they are married already.”
Mickey And Minnie Share The Same Birthday
Mickey and Minnie Mouse have the same birthday! It’s so special how two characters who have been together since they were created, share the same date of birth — November 18th, 1928.
Both Mickey and Minnie made their first appearances on that date in Steamboat Willie in New York City.
Mickey And Minnie Share More Than Just A Birthday
The happy couple are more than just birthday twins! Mickey and Minnie also shared the same original voice actor — Walt Disney himself!
Walt was the one who gave Mickey and Minnie the iconic voices we associate with them today. What an incredible legacy! Russi Taylor and Kaitlyn Robrock are the voices of Minnie we recognize today, and Mickey’s had a few over the years, including Chris Diamantopoulous, and Bret Iwan!
Real Life Romance
The love story between Minnie and Mickey actually goes even deeper, into real life.
Wayne Allwine, the man who voiced Mikey from 1977-2009, was married to Russi Taylor, who voiced Minnie from 1986 to 2019. Their legacies will live on forever with the married mouse duo they brought to life!
Minnie Went Decades Without A Dedicated Voice Actress
Although it’s been established that Walt Disney himself originally voiced Minnie Mouse and that Russi Taylor would do so for the longest period, that still leaves a lot of intervening years between 1930 and 1986 unaccounted for.
In that time, Minnie was voiced by various women who worked in Disney’s Ink and Paint Department. Marcellite Garner spent the longest term among these women voicing Minnie, as she did so between 1930 and 1941. That’s when she left the company to raise a family.
Mickey And Minnie Were Once Regular Mice
Although Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s sizes didn’t take long to standardize, there were a couple of years where Disney seemed undecided on how big he wanted to make them. For instance, Steamboat Willie had them closer to the two-to-three feet they tend to measure nowadays.
However, the 1929 cartoon When The Cat’s Away depicted Mickey and Minnie as the size of regular mice. They also lived among a community of mice hiding in somebody’s house rather than owning one themselves.
Mickey Mouse Was Used To Keep Kids Calm During The War
According to the BBC, British authorities were concerned that German forces would attack the United Kingdom with poisonous gases, as they had famously used mustard gas during the previous world war. Walt Disney appeared to have a similar concern and the British would at least partially adopt the design he came up with.
Since gas masks looked creepy even at the time, he figured that it would be easier for children to agree to wear a gas mask inspired by his famous character. Thus, the Mickey Mouse gas mask was born.
Mickey Was Going To Be Even More Central To Disneyland
Although Mickey Mouse is an important part of the branding of both Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida (especially due to being an interactable character at both parks), Disney’s original plan was to base the theme park around him.
According to WHSV, his original plan was to call Disneyland “Mickey Mouse Village.” Whether the attractions would have been different with that framing in mind is unclear.
Mickey Mouse Was The Subject Of An Unusual Lawsuit
In the early ’70s, a group of underground cartoonists who called themselves the Air Pirates created two comic books called Air Pirate Funnies. In both of them, Mickey Mouse is depicted as a figure of consumerist hypocrisy and his friends are depicted engaging in lewd and otherwise adult behavior to the point of consuming narcotics.
Naturally, this less-than-family-friendly envisioning of their flagship character led Disney to sue. Although the satirical nature of Air Pirate Funnies has since bolstered free speech advocacy against this decision, the lawsuit ended in Disney’s favor and the company was awarded $2 million in damages.
Mickey’s Delicious First Words
While Steamboat Willie was the first animated feature to have a fully synced soundtrack, and Mickey made a few sounds in his early cartoons like laughing or squealing, he didn’t speak his first words until the 1929 short The Karnival Kid!
In the short, Mickey says his first words: “Hot dog! Hot dog!”
Mickey Making “Hot Dogs!” History
Not only was Mickey’s “Hot dog!” the first time that Mickey had ever spoken, it was the first time that any cartoon character had ever spoken in film!
Not bad for a little mouse! “Hot dog” would go on to become one of Mickey’s signature phrases, along with “Oh boy!”
Mickey’s Claim To Fame
Mickey’s made history a few times, not least of which involves a very permanent mark left on the rest of the world alongside some big household names!
Mickey was the first cartoon to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! Walt Disney, Disneyland, Minnie, Kermit The Frog, Winnie The Pooh, and other Disney characters have since joined him.
Mickey’s Middle Name
Minnie Mouse’s full name is Minerva, so you might think that Mickey could be short for Michael, but that’s not the case! Mickey isn’t short for anything, as he’s introduced himself by full name before.
Mickey’s full name is Mickey Theodore Mouse. A very cute name that’s befitting of a very cute mouse!
Mickey’s Fashion Secret
When we think about Mickey Mouse, we think about his colors: He’s a black mouse with red shorts, yellow shoes, and big white gloves. It turns out that those white gloves were given to him for a reason!
Animators decided to give him white gloves so that you could see his hands when they were resting against his body!
A Mouse By Any Other Name
It’s hard to imagine Mickey Mouse being anything other than Mickey Mouse, but when he was first created, Walt gave him a different name!
He was originally called Mortimer Mouse, but Walt’s wife suggested that he change it, and it’s a good thing that she did! Mortimer became the name of one of Mickey’s rivals.
A Mouse By Many Other Names
He’s not Mickey everywhere! In other languages, he’s known as Miki Maus, Mi Lao Shu, Mikki Hiir, Mikkjal Mus, Topolino, Mikkimausu, Myska Mikey, and even Musse Pigg!
Some countries keep his name as Mickey Mouse even when not speaking English, but it’s fascinating to see what his name is in the places that do change it!
President Mickey?
Mickey is a pretty iconic figure, and some people have some pretty big ideas about where he belongs! “Mickey Mouse” is the most common write-in candidate during elections in the United States, but unfortunately, votes for him don’t count.
Of course, the biggest question is who exactly would be his Vice President!
Mickey’s Political Opposition
In countries outside of the United States, Mickey still makes the ballot, but he’s not the most popular one everywhere.
In Sweden, Donald Duck is the character who takes the lead, and “The Donald Duck Party” is written in by voters who don’t feel represented by any of the existing candidates.
Mickey’s Music Impact
We know Mickey from his work in television and movies, of course, but he’s a mouse of many talents! It shouldn’t be surprising that Mickey is a double treat.
In 1978, Mickey actually released an album that went platinum! He’s also released a disco album, which I think should definitely make a comeback.
Missed It By A Hare
We came pretty close to our entire pop culture landscape looking pretty different, although we’d still have a pair of iconic ears.
Before Mickey was designed, Walt Disney had created Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, a character who looked pretty similar to Mickey’s original design, but he was a rabbit instead of a mouse.
Not-So-Lucky Rabbit
Oswald was created for Universal, but when Disney and his creative partner Ub Iwerks left Universal, the company took creative control of Oswald the Rabbit’s rights, so Disney and Iwerks had to come up with a new character!
Disney eventually got the rights back to Oswald, but not until 2006!
A Fantasia-tic Debut
Mickey’s movie debut was definitely pretty magical!
Mickey’s first appearance in a movie was Fantasia, which was an anthology animated musical movie. He appeared in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice segment of the film, where he puts on a wizard’s hat and dreams that he’s a powerful sorcerer, much to the chagrin of the actual wizard!
Mickey’s Awards History
We know that Mickey was the first non-human to win an Oscar, but his history with the Academy Awards doesn’t stop there!
Mickey has actually been onstage twice to help present the Oscar for Best Short Film in 2003, and Best Animated Short in 1988!
A Secret Beginning
While Steamboat Willie is widely considered the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, and even marks Mickey and Minnie’s official birthday, Walt actually made another cartoon with Mickey before then!
The cartoon was called Plane Crazy, and didn’t reach audiences the way Steamboat Willie would. That might’ve been because the cartoon was entirely silent!
Ho Ho Oh Boy!
Mickey Mouse is obviously one of the most recognizable characters in the world, but Time Magazine surveyed children around the globe, and it turns out that Mickey is even more recognizable than Santa Claus!
This is likely in part because Santa is connected to a religious holiday, but it’s still a pretty impressive feat!
Four Finger Discount
Have you ever counted Mickey’s fingers? Even though real mice have four fingers and a thumb much like humans do, Mickey is more traditionally cartoonish and has four fingers. Walt had a pretty unique reason for why they made that choice!
“Using five fingers would have made Mickey’s hands look like a bunch of bananas,” he said.
Real-Life Inspiration
There was a real pet mouse at the heart of Mickey! Walt would study and sketch a tame mouse, noticing the physical features and humor that would eventually be translated into the beloved cartoon.
We all know our pets are funny enough to be famous if we tried, and Walt was right about his!
Mickey’s Makeover
In 1935, Mickey underwent his first makeover at the hands of animator Fred Moore. Originally, Mickey was circular in shape, but Moore gave him a pear-shaped body, pupils in his eyes, white gloves, and a shortened nose.
Moore claimed this was to make Mickey look cuter, and I’d definitely have to say it worked.
The Mickey Cinematic Universe
Now that Disney owns Marvel, we shouldn’t be surprised that there have been some crossovers with Mickey and some beloved comic book figures!
Mickey and his friends even got to be on the cover of a few special edition comic books that reimagined the Avengers as the famous cartoon characters!
Mickey’s Meowing Adversary
One of Mickey’s most common adversaries is the big mean Pete, who’s sometimes referred to as Peg-Leg Pete. While many fans are familiar with Pete, many are surprised to learn his species — he’s not a dog, he’s a cat!
It makes sense for a cat to have a troubled relationship with a mouse, I guess!
The Original Mickey Design
Walt Disney actually wasn’t the one who designed the original concept of Mickey! Walt’s longtime creative partner, Ub Iwerks, came up with the original design.
The two had a falling out over Iwerks feeling he didn’t get enough credit for the creation of Mickey, but they would, thankfully, later reconcile.
Not Always A Nice Guy
Mickey has had his share of controversial moments, too! In Steamboat Willie, Mickey actually swings a cat around by its tail and uses a goose as bagpipes — probably not actions he would take today!
In one cartoon from 1933, Mickey’s Mellerdrammer, Mickey even takes part in a minstrel show, adopting common features of blackface.
Mickey’s Controversy
Mickey has actually been banned from entire countries before! He was notably banned in Germany, in Iran, from the Seoul Olympics, and from Seattle liquor stores.
In 1935, Mickey wasn’t allowed to appear on big movie screens in Romania, because the government decided that children might get scared by seeing such a big mouse.
